Spiers Memorial Award winners announced

14 January 2019

Professor Matthias Beller, who works at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis, and Professor Naomi Halas, who works at Rice University, are the Royal Society of Chemistry Spiers Memorial Award winners for 2019.

The Spiers Memorial Award is presented in recognition of an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of a Faraday Discussion – unique international discussion meetings that focus on rapidly developing areas of physical chemistry and its interfaces with other scientific disciplines.

Naomi’s research deals with light interacting with very small particles, much smaller than we can see. "Using the tools of chemistry and nanoscience we design and fabricate nanoparticles that interact with light in specific ways", she says.

Naomi’s research group was the first to design and create nanoparticles whose geometry dictates what color of light they absorb. These types of nanoparticles have many applications, such as in photothermal cancer therapy and in solar thermal distillation for water remediation.

On receiving the award she said: "I am truly honoured to accept this award. It is very exciting to participate in the Faraday Discussion on this topic."

Matthias works in the area of catalysis – the science of controlling chemical reactivity and chemical transformations. His focus is on the development of new sustainable catalysis for practical applications.

On receiving the award he said: "I am honoured and feel happy for my co-workers, who are the 'real' recipients of this prize."

Both receive £2,000 and a medal, and Naomi will present the introductory lecture at the landmark 300th Faraday Discussion meeting in London in February.

Matthias will present the introductory lecture at the Artificial Photosynthesis Faraday Discussion, which will held in in Cambridge, UK, in March.

Unlike most scientific conferences, Faraday Discussions feature work that has not yet been published. Each contributor submits a research paper in advance and presents their work to the assembled delegates, who then have the opportunity to question them about their results. The discussion is written up after the meeting, as a form of live peer review, and is published alongside the original paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Faraday Discussions.

Dr Jo Reynolds, director of science and communities at the Royal Society of Chemistry said:

"The Spiers Memorial Award has a long and distinguished history, with the first prize lecture being delivered in November 1928.

"The list of previous winners includes those working at the cutting edge of physical chemistry – influential and inspirational scientists who are helping to advance science for the benefit of humanity.

"We are proud of the work of all our winners, who represent the best and brightest from our diverse global community, so I extend my sincere congratulations to both of these year's winners."

The Spiers Memorial Award forms part of a portfolio of over 80 prestigious prizes and awards presented by the Royal Society of Chemistry each year. Winners are recognised for the originality and impact of their research, or for their contributions to the chemical sciences industry or chemistry education. The full list of 2019 winners will be published in May 2019.